MIECHV a HFA Site, Accredited for Quality Service by Prevent Child Abuse America

Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) announced that the Healthy Families America (HFA) affiliate, Sieda Community Action’s MIECHV (Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visit) Program has been accredited as a provider of high quality home visiting services to families who want to improve their child’s health, nutrition and developmental outcomes.

HFA is a signature program of PCA America that has been providing home visiting services for more than 20 years. Expectant and new parents have common questions about their child’s development. HFA connects with families through community partners like hospitals and pediatricians to find the answers to their questions, meeting within the familiarity and convenience of the family’s own home. HFA is an accessible, voluntary and well received service.

“The American Dream starts with a happy, healthy childhood,” said Dan Duffy, President and CEO of PCA America.  “As parents, we all have questions from time to time.  Our HFA professionals offer evidence-based best practices to provide answers to questions, individualized support when needed most, and linkages to community services.  As we congratulate Sieda MIECHV we also recognize the state and community leadership that has contributed to success in the counties of Appanoose and Wapello.”

The accreditation process is based upon a stringent set of 12 critical elements grounded in more than 30 years of research. The process involves an in-depth examination of the site’s operation, as well as, the quality of the visits made by HFA home visitors.

“We commend the Sieda MIECHV for opening itself up to such an intensive review process,” said Cydney Wessel, National Director of HFA. “We believe that all families and all communities deserve access to quality home visiting services.”

The HFA site for Wapello County is located in Ottumwa at 725 West Second Street and the site for Appanoose County is located in Centerville at 111 North Main Street, Suite 2.

“MIECHV staff enroll parents that are pregnant or have a child under the age of three months,” Sue Wolver, Sieda HFA Program Manager explained. “After they enroll we can work with them until that child is 5 years old, while serving the family as a unit as well. We work with them on achieving developmental milestones through fun activities, assessments, child abuse prevention through education, home safety, and connections to other resources in the community. We serve 40 families within Appanoose and Wapello Counties.” To learn more visit www.sieda.org/child-development/miechv/

Home visitors in each community receive extensive training in a wide range of areas that can cause stress and worry to just about every new parent: caring for a new baby, ensuring the baby is receiving the nutrition needed, promoting healthy child development and coping with a myriad of other potential stresses, such as financial, housing, partner relationship, etc., that may become heightened with an addition to the family.

PCA America was established in 1972 with the belief that child abuse and neglect is preventable. The not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization is committed to preventing child abuse in all forms through education, research, public awareness, and public policy development. Today, PCA America has 50 statewide chapters.

PCA America implemented the Healthy Families America (HFA) initiative in 1992 in partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, building on two decades of research in the field of home visiting. HFA serves families of all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, meeting the needs of close to 600 communities in 40 states, DC, the U.S. Territories and Canada.

Healthy Families America is an effective and proven evidence-based home visiting program according the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. PCA America is proud to support HFA and to be part of a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the home visiting field.